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Report: Dundee Utd v Rangers

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Image for Report: Dundee Utd v Rangers

Rangers’ treble hopes are gone after the were sent crashing out of the Scottish Cup by Dundee United. The Arabs scored just before the end of normal time giving Rangers no hope of coming back.

It was a well deserved victory for Dundee United who dominated the game from start to finish, much like St Mirren did on Sunday. But it seems that Rangers’ luck has finally come to an end, and with it, their hopes of winning the treble this season.

Rangers made seven changes from the team that faced St Mirren on Sunday. Only the back four stayed the same. Allan McGregor came back in for Neil Alexander. Maurice Edu, DeMarcus Beasley, Steven Naismith and Kyle Lafferty came into the midfield, while Youngsters John Fleck and Andy Little came in for Kris Boyd and Kenny Miller up front.

From the off, Dundee United looked fired up and looked like they wanted it more than Rangers. They completely dominated, and were unlucky to have three good penalty claims turned down in the first half.

Rangers were restricted to only a couple of half chances, their first shot on target wouldn’t come until the 73rd minute of the game. United finally got the goal they deserved on the 90th minute when Allan McGregor made a hash of a tackle on David Robertson and the ball ended up trickling into the back of the net.

Overall, a poor performance from a Rangers team who seem to be running out of steam. It’s a good thing they are already miles ahead in the league because if things were tight at the top I wouldn’t be too confident of us going on to win it.

I was however encouraged by the performance of Kyle Lafferty tonight. Credit where credit is due, he comes in for a lot of stick but I thought he put in a fantastic shift tonight before he eventually had to be replaced when he got cramp.

It looks like someone has put a rocket up his backside as he looked like a man on a mission tonight. Apart from a handball in the box which he was lucky to get away with, he performed brilliantly when he was needed in defence, and he looked lively up front when he got the chance.

So it’s time to concentrate on the league now. Rangers have ten games left to play and are ten points ahead with two games in hand. Celtic suffered what can only be described as one of the most shocking defeats ever in Scottish football when they were thrashed 4-0 by St Mirren.

In an utterly depressing night for Rangers in the Scottish Cup, this result has gone some way to cheering us all up. I’m sure many Rangers fans will be like myself and be going through mixed emotions at the moment.

Well done Dundee United. Let’s hope you can do one over on Celtic should you meet them in the final in May.

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